


Ice Cream And Staying Up

by mediocrityatbest



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, moxiety - Freeform, qpp moxiety, virgil uses xe/xir pronouns, xe uses neo-pronouns because i have not seen enough of that in anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:28:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23142466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mediocrityatbest/pseuds/mediocrityatbest
Summary: Patton gets home from work late, and he's fine, but Virgil was scared about what might have kept him.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 1
Kudos: 41





	Ice Cream And Staying Up

**Author's Note:**

> This is a request I got on Tumblr for the prompts: "It's okay, it's just me" and "There's nothing to be afraid of" with Moxiety.

Patton gets off work half an hour later than he usually does. There was a mess, and while usually one of the waiter staff would have had to clean it, the person working had a particularly week stomach and almost puked when they saw it (fettuccine alfredo that had been dropped on the floor and was covered with something that looked suspiciously like puke.) Patton had felt so bad that he sent Remy back to the kitchen and cleaned it up himself. So he’s running late now, and all he wants to do is get home but then he remembers-they don’t have any eggs. He’d been thinking about making omelettes for breakfast tomorrow, something nice to start their day-off with. He goes to text Virgil, get xir opinion on food, but his phone is dead so he heads to the store without any of xir input. He knows what Virgil likes, so he’s not too worried about getting something Virgil won’t eat.

Patton spends another half hour or so gathering up a few other things they need (milk, soda, ice cream, orange tic tacs) and then finally, blessedly, he’s on his way home. Maybe he and Virgil can watch some of the show they’ve been binging or maybe he can watch Virgil work on xir current project (a painting in neon, with gravestones and vultures).

He’s humming when he unlocks the door, bags hanging off his arms. He sets the bags in the entryway so he can take off his shoes and not track mud all over the place, and when he turns around he sees Virgil sitting on the couch, xir shoulders hunched in.

“Hey, Veevee,” he calls, bending to get the bags, happy as ever to see his favoritest QPP in the whole world. But then Virgil whimpers and the milk and eggs and ice cream, which all need to be cold, are forgotten about as Patton practically teleports across the room. He kneels in front of the couch, where he can see that there are tear tracks on Virgil’s face and xir eyes are squeezed shut.

“Hey, honey,” Patton says and he puts a hand on Virgil’s arm. Xe flinches back, eyes opening, wide and terrified. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s just me.” He holds one hand out, a system he and Virgil had worked out to let him know when it was okay to touch, and Virgil just stares for a second, eyes roving over every inch of Patton’s face, his chest, his arms. Once xe sees his hand, Virgil throws xirself forward into Patton. Xe is shaking, trembling so badly it feels like an earthquake is wracking xir body. Patton runs a hand through xir hair, holding xir tight. He rocks them both, just back and forth, soothing platitudes falling from his lips.

Eventually, about ten minutes later, Virgil has stopped shaking so intensely. Xe usually shakes a little, a side effect of xir anxiety being so overwhelming, so it’s normal that it hasn’t stopped completely. What isn’t normal, and if Patton has anything to say about it, will never,  _ ever _ be xir normal, is that Virgil is still crying. Xir body jolts with the sobs that get caught in xir chest, and Virgil is trying to not make any noise.

Patton hates that even when xe’s in pain, xe doesn’t want to draw attention.

“What’s wrong?” Patton asks quietly. Virgil presses xir face more into Patton’s shoulder, shaking xir head. “That’s alright. We don’t have to talk about it. Do you want me to talk?” Virgil nods, so Patton launches into a tale about his day, the cute little girl who told him that she wanted to have blue hair just like his because it looked like cotton candy, and the teenager who told him that he would look intimidating (Patton snorts. Him, intimidating? He’s never felt like someone was so wrong about him.) if he got a nose piercing and a tattoo. “What that teenager didn’t know,” Patton adds slyly, just for him and Virgil, “is that I have more ear piercings than years he’s been alive.”

Virgil laughs softly, and Patton counts it as a win.

He keeps going, talking about how disgusted Remy was and how Patton feared he’d be saddled with cleaning up the wasted food and whatever Remy had recently eaten. Virgil laughs again at that, and then slowly leans back from Patton’s chest. Patton gently wipes away some of xir tears, and Virgil smiles a little bit up at him.

“Sorry,” Virgil says, xir voice a croak. Patton shakes his head, unwilling to let that stand.

“You don’t have a thing in the world to be sorry for.” He kisses Virgil’s head. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” xe says. “It’s just, when you-when you didn’t get here when you were supposed to, I thought something bad might have happened, and I know that that’s not very likely, but I wasn’t sure so I texted you but then you didn’t respond and I didn’t-I didn’t know-”

Patton’s heart twists up in his chest, but he can see Virgil spiralling toward another panic attack. “I’m fine. It’s fine. There’s nothing to be afraid of, honey.” Virgil nods hurriedly and presses xir hands into xir eyes. “I am so sorry.” Virgil’s head snaps up at the words, staring at Patton. “I forgot to charge my phone last night,” he admits sheepishly. “I was watching Steven Universe and fell asleep part way through an episode. My phone died while I was at work.”

“Pat, you shouldn’t be staying up that late,” Virgil says, the barest hint of a fond smile around xir lips. “It’s not good for you.”

“But Steven!” Patton says, and he almost gets sidetracked to talk about the adventure and all the growing the characters do. But this is a serious conversation, so he uses all of his willpower to pull himself back. “I’ll do better about plugging my phone in before I fall asleep so that you can text me. I never wanna miss anything my cute little Veevee has to say!” Virgil blushes, xir tan skin getting brighter, and Patton giggles.

“And I will try to reign in my left-field thoughts,” Virgil says. Patton grabs xir hand, squeezing it gently. "So, uh, now that we can pretend that never happened,” Virgil swipes at xir eyes one last time, erasing all traces of tears, “what do you want to?”

“I was thinking  _ The Umbrella Academy _ ?” Patton suggests.

“Absolutely,” Virgil agrees.

“Ooh! And I bought ice cream! Let me go get it!” He rushes away and quickly puts their groceries in their proper places before grabbing two spoons and carton and dropping back onto the couch, nearly on top of Virgil.

“Cotton candy,” Virgil says when xe sees it. “My favorite.”

“I know.” Patton smirks. “I know all about my little Veevee.” Virgil scowls, and they both pretend that they believe xe really is annoyed until the show starts. They snuggle together, watching as the Hargreeves kick ass, and Patton feels pretty darn happy about the whole thing.

(They stay up way later than they should to finish the season—and to appreciate everything about Klaus and his aesthetic, and they both pass out on the couch. But not before Virgil reminds Patton to plug his phone in and Patton gives xir another kiss on the head, just for good measure.)


End file.
